The Sopranos creator David Chase has announced his return to HBO with a miniseries about the “the invention of cinema and subsequent growth of the Hollywood film industry”. A Ribbon of Dreams begins in 1913 and follows two men — a college-educated mechanical engineer and a cowboy with a violent past, who begin as employees of D.W. Griffith, and then cross career paths with John Ford, John Wayne, Raoul Walsh, Bette Davis, Billy Wilder and others who gave shape to Hollywood as it grew from “the age of rough-hewn silent Westerns, to the golden era of talkies and the studio system, to the auteur movement, to television, and finally to the present day.”

The title, A Ribbon of Dreams, is taken from an old quote by Orson Welles, who said that “A film is a ribbon of dreams.” Chase is writing the miniseries and plans to direct the initial episodes. I’ve always loved films and television shows set inside the film/television world. One of my friends had a great series idea set in the golden age of Hollywood (being vague for a reason), and while I’m not sure we’ll ever see that idea, this seems like the next best thing. Read the full press release after the jump.

Take a first look at the new Batmobile which will debut in Batman #676. Yeah, I like the the tumbler better. [io9]

The November 1980 issue of Warren Presents: Empire Encounters Comix offers the promise of spoilers for “Star Wars 2!” Boba Fett leading stormtroopers? A Rebel assault on “Vader’s stronghold?” Han Solo and Chewbacca captured by the Empire? [John Booth]

Lionsgate has picked up the rights to the comic book “Deal With the Devil” and has set writer Kyle Ward to adapt. [THR]

Our friends at LatinoReview have seen an unfinished cut of Hellboy II: The Golden Army and says it “was a joy to watch even without the eye candy.” The Sandcrawler Times has a look at a bunch of new WALL-E products from Thinkway Toys.

NYTimes reports that the negative Indiana Jones review which leaked last week was actually from “a theater executive who saw the film at an exhibitors’ screening this week.” And that “Theater executives may have an incentive to play down a movie’s prospects after such a screening, to get better terms.”

American Teen is being given a new soundtrack. Lets hope they don’t suck things up. Please, whatever you do – keep Phantom Planet’s Do The Panic! [theenvolope]

The X-Files: I Want to Believe movie trailer will be released Monday night. [collider] David O. Russell‘s risque political comedy Nailed has been put on hold while shooting in South Carolina because of a “cash crunch” that’s causing problems with SAG, IATSE and the Teamsters. Co-stars Jessica Biel and Jake Gyllenhaal (the pic also stars James Marsden, Catherine Keener, and Tracy Morgan) “are waiting to see if the movie will continue. [Nikki Finke]

LatinoReview is reporting that John Singleton is looking at Bruce Willis for the role of Col. John “Hannibal” Smith for the upcoming big screen version of The A-Team.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says California must increase tax incentives to movie and television studios as a way to keep them from moving their productions out of state. [THR]

Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation will have an Los Angeles premiere at the Mann’s Chinese on Wednesday, May 14th at 7:30 pm. If you ever have the chance to see this film, DO IT! [PRNewswire]

Do you remember where you were and who you were with last June when The Sopranos went out with a (non) bang? Might one of the all time quizzical endings lead to a new beginning (perhaps an even greater one?), as rumors are coming in today that a theatrical movie is in the works. One Nick D’Urso, manager of the Satin Dolls strip club in North Jersey, which served as the infamous Bada Bing strip club in the show, says he received a call, possibly from HBO, telling him not to do any renovations to the club in lieu of an upcoming Sopranos movie.

“I got an inside tip that they’re going to do a movie, so I don’t want to make any major changes,” D’Urso said Wednesday. “I’m not going to reveal my sources, but we got a call from somebody (working) on the script.”

HBO apparently had no comment regarding D’Urso’s claim. Supporting the possibility of a movie is arguably the show’s most well known fan, Soprano Sue, who had this to say…

“As soon as the finale ended, I got a call from somebody on the crew who said, ‘We’re going to make a movie,'” she said, adding, “You can tell just by looking at the series finale.”

Gotta love her. I understand why naysayers don’t want a continuance to the series. The ending was pretty, well, beautiful and right, and remains so. It made grown men cry to the sounds of Journey in front of their gals. Television shows like AMC’s Breaking Bad (which is excellent) and Showtime’s Weeds (which is pretty good, if bi-polar) have respectably taken up the lonely realism of David Chase’s legendary, landmark series, and an epic movie runs the risk of being The Godfather 3, but I’ll take that risk. In hectic times, we need these hectic characters and awesome relationships to return.

Discuss: Would Big T on the big screen betray the finale? Can David Chase reinvent the movie like he did with TV?